The buoyed weight method, and the weight (in the air) and pressure method have been used to calculate the weight of a string in a well. These methods have also been used to determine an axial load at any point in a string. Though an axial load must be determined, for instance, to make a bi-axial correction of collapse resistance of a casing and to practice the tri-axial stress casing design method, conventional methods to know axial loads can not be applied to strings in directional wells.A theoretical investigation of loads in strings in directional wells was performed. Then a simple method to determine axial loads of strings in directional wells was developed. The key parameters of this method are vertical lengths of pipes, weight (in the air)/foot of pipes and hydrostatic pressures on pipes. The axial loads at the surface calculated with this new method almost coincide with actual field data.This paper presents the investigation of loads in strings in directional wells and describes the new method to determine axial loads of strings. This paper also describes an idea how to predict drags of strings in directional wells.